Researchers describe a new test for detecting sickle cell anemia that is
cheap, fast, and accurate, all characteristics that make it ideal for saving
lives in developing countries.
by John
Tyburski
Copyright © Daily
Digest News, KPR Media, LLC. All rights reserved.
Approximately
300,000 African children are born each year with sickle cell anemia, a genetic
blood disease that kills more than 50 percent of those under the age of five
who are not diagnosed and treated. A major hurdle in managing sickle cell
anemia is the lack of a rapid, low-cost diagnostic test that can be done
reliably in developing countries.
Harvard
University researchers attempted to address this gap by reporting on a new test
that may revolutionize sickle cell diagnosis across the world.
The test
uses blood drawn from a suspected patient and can provide a yes or no answer
within about 12 minutes for potentially 50 cents. The researchers tested 50
blood samples, half of which contained sickle-shaped red blood cells, and
discriminated these samples from healthy samples with high accuracy. The
ability of the test to correctly identify sickle cells, the test’s sensitivity,
was 91 percent, while the test’s ability to correctly exclude healthy patient
samples, the test’s specificity, was 88 percent.
The test
is based on a biophysical rather than a biochemical indicator. Sickle-shaped
red blood cells are more dense than normal red blood cells. As a result, they
may be differentially separated by centrifugation through a “system of aqueous
multiphase polymers,” the researchers wrote. The test is easy to perform and
interpret, lending it to use in “low-resource settings.”
The researchers
say the test is yet a ways off for human use. However, it may one day help
doctors identify children with the disease before they present with acute
symptoms.
The
diagnostic test is described
in last week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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